Cancelmo Family Heirloom Tomato

90 days, indeterminate — The regular leaf plants of ‘Cancelmo Family Heirloom’ produces five to sixteen ounce, pointy, heart-shaped, fruit that are pink in color. Similar in appearance to ‘Anna Russian’, with a mild, smooth, balanced, though slightly tangy, flavor. Most of its fruit are big, beautiful, and nice for slicing.

This variety was sent to us by Craig LeHoullier in time to grow out during the 2017 season. It was sent to his home by Walt Swokla from Connecticut. When sending his family’s heirloom seed to Craig, Mr. Swokla described its background and history in a note that read:

When we followed up with Walt, he added more interesting details. He pointed out this tomato is a nice all-purpose variety equally well suited for sauce or slicing. And although the fruit shapes, like many heart-shaped varieties, vary with the size, they are consistently meaty and flavorful. He also estimated that twelve to fifteen pounds of fruit yield one gallon of sauce and at over one pound each on average, “… they are plenty large enough to cover a quarter pound burger or grace a BLT.”

Walt emphasized that he believed that the women in his lineage, his grandmother and mother, are “the stars” in this story and that he considered this tomato to be, “… an amazing gift from another time, from a woman who continued to feed her family long after she passed.” His hope in sharing the ‘Cancelmo Family Heirloom’ with the gardening public is that it continues to provide sustenance for generations of families to come. Each packet contains approximately 20 seeds.